Ska-punk titans Reel Big Fish will be touring the UK this November with support from Lightyear and Spunge.
Dates run from November 5-21.
General admission tickets for all shows are on sale now.
As one of the key mid-90’s ska-punk bands to emerge out of Southern California’s third wave ska scene, along with acts like No Doubt and Sublime, Reel Big Fish’s popularity hasn’t faltered over the years. Distinguished by their hyperkinetic stage shows, sarcastic humor, ironic covers of new wave pop songs, and metallic shards of ska, the group continues to tour the world playing shows to a hardcore fanbase that’s as devoted as ever. The band’s 9th studio LP, ‘Life Sucks…Let’s Dance’ was released in late- 2018 and has garnered some of the best reviews of their lengthy career.
Stream Reel Big Fish’s latest LP ‘Life Sucks…Let’s Dance’ on ITunes and Spotify.
The EFG London Jazz Festival is thrilled to welcome the legendary Iggy Pop to Barbican this November, in a UK exclusive performance of his critically acclaimed new album, Free.
‘Iggy Pop has delivered one of the most singular and interesting records of his long career.’(Consequence of Sound)
From breaking new grounds in punk rock with The Stooges to his radio show at BBC 6 Music, Iggy Pop has always challenged norms, defied expectations and has been a major influence on countless musicians from a wide range of genres.
Building on years of jazz collaborations with the likes of Medeski Martin and Wood, as well as on Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte’s Loneliness Road, and his jazz, chanson and literature influenced 2009 album Préliminaires, Pop takes the lead role in Free, described as ‘irresistible, loose, thoughtful and free-wheeling – a dreamy and sparse soundscape‘ (★★★★ by The Independent.)
‘Free is a liberating collection that unshackles the star from his past and his insecurities, and slowly cracks open a door to version of the future that will inevitably arrive when he’s ready. Wherever that journey takes him in this phase of his career, it’ll be an honour to witness.’ (★★★★ NME)
Bitch Queens can take a break when they’re old! For now, here’s the second Single with video off they’re still steaming hot and brand new Album – It’s “Süperböy”!
A beautifully ironic Clip with pictures larger than life, a stadium-sized hookline and a completely new facet for the the death-punk bitches from Basel. The lyrics are as usual on point, reckoning with all the bullshit artists surrounding us day in and day out.
Enjoy the video
The embers of 70’s rock ‘n’ roll are still simmering away and one band ready to torch the world and bring it all back screaming are LA darlings Starcrawler. Their brand of weirdo art punk encapsulates everything I love about 70’s rock and the 90’s alternative movement into one melting pot of LA styled cool.
Their notorious live shows combine the theatre of Alice Cooper with the raw, unbridled punk of Iggy & The Stooges. They release singles that don’t appear on albums, make the coolest promo videos since the MTV heyday of David Lee Roth and Poison and they have a wild and wonderful singer named Arrow de Wilde who could be the bastard offspring of Iggy Pop and KatieJane Garside.
It’s only been 18 months since their Ryan Adams produced debut album was released on an unsuspecting world, and now they return with their sophomore long player ‘Devour You’.
If you are a fan then you will have heard several of the songs on ‘Devour You’ already. Four singles have been released, with accompanying videos that will make you want to cruise the streets of LA in the summer sunshine.
So, following the tribal beats and familiar de Wilde drawl on album opener ‘Lizzy’, we get the first of those singles ‘Bet My Brains’. A cool Stooges vibe is omnipresent as it builds on a smoky vocal and a trippy groove to a cool as you like chorus refrain. The messy guitars of Henri Cash collide with the great hooks that Arrow delivers and Starcrawler creates the most exciting noise since the mid 90’s heyday of alternative rock.
The latest single ‘No More Pennies’ sees the band take their brand of garage punk to radio-friendly levels that were merely hinted at on previous releases. With a Joe Perry like introduction riff, it builds to an uber cool summery chorus with a nice little country lick going on. The definite Pretenders/Sheryl Crowe feel could alienate the punk rock audience but should be wholly embraced, as this is a band showing great maturity at this early point in their career. Great, lazy vocals and one of the album highlights.
You could say this band is showing their diversity and their songwriting prowess on album number two. I mean, imagine if Susannah Hoffs joined L7 and was seen swinging her used tampon over her shoulder into a festival crowd…well, ’Rich Taste’ could soundtrack that very moment.
From the funky, post-punk feel of ‘You Dig Yours’ to the frantic noise of ‘Toy Teenager’ they deliver the goods. Elsewhere ‘Hollywood Ending’ and ‘Born Asleep’ remind this listener of Hole at their late 90’s commercial peak. And ‘She Gets Around’ is possibly the best song Veruca Salt never released.
Album closer ‘Call Me A Baby’ sees Arrow channel her inner Patsy Cline. As Henri picks a countrified guitar refrain, she drawls a lament with a delicate vocal as sweet as honey. A children’s choir and brass instruments join in on the building chorus to the climax. The biggest compliment I can give is that it sounds like a song from a time gone by.
‘Devour’ is an album that showcases the diversity and maturity of a band who have spent time on the road, yet are barely out of their teens. There is a strength to the songwriting that lesser bands would kill to possess. Starcrawler have come a long way in such a short time, only time will tell how far they can truly go, but I for one will be watching every step of the way.
“It is with extreme sadness we announce the passing of the legendary Barrie Masters.
As you can expect, this sudden news is a huge shock to the band and family.
We welcome tributes posted to our Facebook and Twitter sites which will be passed on to Barrie’s family.” – Twitter
Rock and Roll has lost another good un. RIP Barrie. Barrie’s cause of death is unknown at this time of writing. Frontman of Eddie and the Hot Rods who broke through in the late ’70s, and released four albums, including their 1977 LP ‘Life on the Line’, which contained the classic hit, “Do Anything You Wanna Do.” They first came to my notice when they were wrongly pictured on the back of the first press of the classic ‘Damned Damned Damned’ album who they no doubt influenced. After breaking up they reformed a few times with Barrie as the sole constant member. In recent years, they toured ‘35 Years of Teenage Depression’, a 35th anniversary re-recording of their classic 1976 debut ‘Teenage Depression’.
There’s a case to be made that Redd Kross is the seminal Los Angeles band of the last 40 years. And ‘BORN INNOCENT’ is gonna make it.
Formed in 1978 by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald, and still actively playing and recording today, Redd Kross are the ultimate rock and roll lifers. They have influenced independent music in ways that beg to be acknowledged. From helping invent Beach Punk to influencing the Grunge and Glam Metal movements, Redd Kross have maintained the highest level of musical integrity, originality and quality for over forty years.
Born Innocent will introduce a wider audience to two of the coolest people alive. The McDonald Brothers embody Southern California, rock and roll, and what it means to be an artist.
In 1978, in the Southern California beach suburb of Hawthorne – home of The Beach Boys – two brothers, Jeff McDonald, age 15, and Steven McDonald, age 11, started a band called The Tourists. They wrote a set of songs including “Annette’s Got the Hits” and “Clorox Girls” that would become classics and define the genre known as “Beach Punk”. The first time The Tourists played in front of anyone was at BlackFlag’s legendary rehearsal space, The Church in Hermosa Beach. They got the older band’s seal of approval, along with a new name – Red Cross. They were so young that their first studio recordings were financed with money from Steve’s paper route.
But when Jeff saw hardcore being codified into a set of musical and fashion rules, he rebelled. Red Cross was the first band from the hardcore scene to grow their hair long, and their second record, Born Innocent, was unlike anything that had come out of the underground. It’s a record drenched in 70’s pop culture references: Linda Blair, Tatum O’Neal, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls… even a cover of a Charles Manson song. Steven Malkmus of Pavement listed it as one of his top five biggest influences, and Mark Arm of Mudhoney has said that it was the record that got all the Seattle grunge bands started.
Red Cross fought back against hardcore’s anti-rock star stance, dressing in outlandish thrift-store-glam stage costumes like their idols, The New York Dolls.
The high school-age McDonalds received a letter from the International Red Cross threatening legal action if they continued to use the name “Red Cross”. Jeff’s response was to change their name to “Redd Kross” in an homage to comedian Redd Foxx. With their new name, Redd Kross continued to evolve their sound. Their Neurotica record would prove to be one of the crucial influences on the Grunge scene in Seattle that changed music in the 1990’s.
When pop music caught up to what they were doing and grunge was on the rise, Redd Kross pivoted again, making a sugary bubblegum record for their major label debut, Third Eye, which sported a nude Sofia Coppola on the cover. And while they had previously starred in the cult classics Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and Lovedolls Superstar, the 90’s saw them star in their first studio movie. Before there was The Brady Bunch Movie, there was The Spirit of 76, a 70’s nostalgia movie that saw Jeff and Steve starring alongside David Cassidy, Leif Garrett and Devo.
Their next evolution had them perfecting a beefy power pop sound, with their records Phaseshifter and Show World. This was the phase that garnered them fans from Robert Plant to Joe Elliott of Def Leppard to Dave Davies of The Kinks.
While chart-topping success in America eluded them, they have toured the world to massive acclaim, treated like rock gods in the UK, Spain and Japan. Steve has played with Beck, Hole, Sparks, and Tenacious D. He currently plays in both The Melvins and Off! Redd Kross have always followed their artistic muse, wherever it led. Forty years later, they are still going strong, heading out on tour in support of their seventh studio album, Beyond the Door.
Redd Kross has long been a cult band, a band’s band, a secret code word among music fans that signifies taste and cool. But unlike many cult bands, their music is eminently accessible. If you like The Beatles or The Ramones or Cheap Trick, basically if you’re a rock and roll fan, you’ll like Redd Kross.
Wow-what a fantastic record. That’s it I could leave the review right there that’s all you need to know. It’s nothing new – they’re not reinventing the wheel – just cruising around with the hood down supping on a few beers with the best eight-track sitting in their retro rocket-fueled hot rod. Dead Furies just play Rock and Roll and play it loud and loose and that’s all you need to know. Oh Yeah, incase you need it spelling out they write Great Songs!
Ok, so its not really all you need to know but you get the picture. I’m not really up on what’s hot and what’s not in in Tallinn, Estonia but I do know that it has one of Europes finest Rock and Roller bands out there making Solid Gold Rock and Roll right here right now. They mix up some classic ’70s rock n Roll and stand it next to some Classic Rock n Roll from the likes of Iggy or the Stones and the whole Scandi scene and let it all melt into one. What’s not to like on the blistering ‘Good God Damn’ it’s like Bolan Jammin with Iggy – everybody on your feet because this pre-chorus needs a standing ovation its that good. If I had to reward a tune ‘Tune of the month’ then this is it. Then, to follow it up with a slab of Motorhead inspired heads down Action Rock of ‘Holy Nothing’ these boys are having it and strutting their stuff like a Rock and Roll peacock and looking good doing it as well.
From the Stooges piano on the title track its feel-good Rock and Roll and seeing as Rockin is their business then I should declare right here right now that business is not just good its awesome. With more than their fair share of excellent songs, this record should, in a just world, see the band kick open plenty of doors and hear ‘Stay Gold’ blasting out of bedroom all over this globe. But they’ll have to work hard for it and tour the guts out of this record just to make a tiny dent I guess. It deserves to be heard because they don’t just have one or two good ideas they have a record bursting with very good songs.
‘Death Of A Comedian’ is coolness personified cruising along towards the understated chorus and we go again. There are fourteen tracks on this album so they’ve shoed in plenty of bang for your bucks. ‘A couple OF Winos’ could be about a few people I know and from the heavy lick it cools down into a good groove for the verse this should appeal to classic old school rockers for its arrangement but its got style and is nestled in well in the middle of the record next to the MC5 hip shake of ‘Sweet Lovin’ Body’ with a great chorus and maybe candidate for my favourite track on the album.
Oh, wait, ‘The More things Change’ howls in on a cool as fuck saxophone honk wearing an old Bowie jacket and a little heavy eye makeup. Such a good song. ‘(I’m Not Gonna) Go Down’ is straight out of the early Hellacopters and Total 13 handbook and why the fuck not? ‘Same Same But Different’ reminds me of The Heartbreakers ‘I Wanna Be Loved’ but it’s same same but different- you’ll get it. As we head into the homestraight the boys just cut loose with rockers ‘Cowboys And Indians’ before taking you up a side street for the closer ‘I Get A Kick From You’. I get akick from hearing records this good and would happily endorse this bad boy there is a lot of music and it has variety yet keeps its identity and they’re not afraid to tread outside their comfort zone now and again either.
Pittsburgh political punk band Anti-Flag announce vital UK and European tour dates for January 2020.
“We need these shows. We need this tour. We need to set the pace for the work that lies ahead in 2020. Our individual strength, optimism and hope comes directly from the interactions and exchanges we have at shows like these. It is a space where individual energy transforms into collective energy and power is born.
We cannot wait to unveil our new record. New songs are our bridge to reach out, reconnect, energize and organize. An opportunity to put names to faces, city to city, town to town. We are living in a time where minorities are being increasingly marginalized and cast out of society, where their mere existence has become illegality. Those victimized by the current administration need much more than allies, they need accomplices. We can no longer be shocked or distracted by defeat. Now is the time to remind each other that we are not alone and together we can beat back injustice.
We hope that this collection of songs, the congregation of folks around the shows, will all serve as tools of solidarity in the face of oppression and empire – solidarity with the poor, the marginalized and the scapegoated who are all catching hell.
Sometimes people say “enough” and a riot echoes forever.”
FULL UK & EUROPEAN TOUR DATES AS FOLLOWS: –
8/1 Lisboa, PT – RCA Club
9/1 Madrid, ES – Caracol
10/1 Vitoria, ES – Kubik
11/1 Zaragoza, ES – Sala López
12/1 Barcelona, ES – Estrapelo
14/1 Milano, IT – HT Factory
16/1 Zurich, CH – Dynamo
17/1 Graz, AT – PPC
18/1 Vienna, AT – Flex
19/1 Prague, CZ – Roxy
21/1 Berlin, DE – SO36
22/1 Munich, DE – Backstage Werk
23/1 Nuremberg, DE – Lowensaal
24/1 Chemnitz, DE – Talschock
26/1 Warsaw, PL – Proxima
28/1 Hamburg, DE – Fabrik
29/1 Köln, DE – Essigfabrik
30/1 Haarlem, NL – Patronaat
2/2 Brighton, UK – Chalk
4/2 London, UK –02 Academy Islington
5/2 Manchester, UK – Club Academy
6/2 Birmingham, UK – The Mill
7/2 Glasgow, UK – The Garage
Tickets go on sale on Friday 4th October @ 10am UK time / 11am CET.
Anti-Flag are currently putting the final touches on their new studio album, further details will be revealed in due course.
You can forget about your boot boy Glam of Guida or any other pretenders who think they have their finger on the pulse of ’70s glam rock vibe because there can be only one at the top of the pile and quite frankly that’s Gyasi. From the opening intro and lyric come the wise words “if you can’t hide it hang bells on it, Baby!” Hell yeah! we’re off.
With a trashy tempo ‘Colourful’ is up and running. The title track is up next with its big strumming acoustic guitar holding the rhythm along with handclaps and some sweet organ toots its glam alright like when the 60s turned into the 70s and it was all about the music. Excellent stuff.
As the record goes from a fruity early Joe Perry like riff or the Zep inspired ‘Young Love’ to the out and out glam of ‘Tongue Tied’ the band kick back and mix up some classic Lower East Side rock and roll al a Lou Reed stylings on ‘Blackstrap’ its got some lush horns and matching riff which makes for an interesting and enjoyable cocktail for sure.
To be fair this album has ten really good tunes it might not necessarily make album of the year it is full of solid rock and roll songs that are well written and well played and borrow bits and pieces from the good and the great from a bygone era – given a dust down and remodeled with extra feathers is always going to go down well around here. I do like what they bring on ‘Bring Your Love’ mixing up the acoustic and electric guitars and summoning the spirit of prime time Robert Plant draws on some classic trippy rock as well. ‘Nightcrawl’ has a cool organ rasping away on the intro like John Lord in platforms and feathers with a nice line in nail polish and listening to classic Iggy Pop when he went to Berlin for inspiration.
Saving the best until the end ‘Kiss Kiss’ is a piano tonkin’ sax blowing romp that the Dolls would have been proud of and ‘Little Tramp’ is sitting crossed legged with only ‘Hunky Dory’ for companionship atop of a mountain. great record go pick it up glam slammers.
Of course there are bands that have garnered higher chart positions, sold more albums and filled bigger venues than Anvil. Yet there are few metal acts that have earned as much respect from their colleagues as the Canadian act surrounding vocalist/guitarist Steve ´Lips` Kudlow, Robb Reiner and Chris Robertson.
The most renowned Anvil aficionados include, among others, international stars such as Metallica and the late Lemmy of Motörhead, who have expressed their unreserved admiration time and again.
Expect a romp around the country in sold out, sweaty, hard rocking/metal shows to tell your mates about from these living legends that are an inspiration to many.
Tickets go on sale 24th September and will be available from the venues and various ticket outlets as listed on the band’s website Here
Ska-punk titans Reel Big Fish will be touring the UK this November with support from Lightyear and Spunge.
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